Dec. 15, 2007
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – She may be less than a year removed from college competition, but former Vanderbilt golfer Chris Brady is already making strides in the professional golf ranks.
With the goal of playing professionally on the LPGA Tour, Brady joined over 300 other golfers with the same goal and headed to LPGA Qualifying School (Q-school).
After advancing through the Sectional Qualifying Tournament, Brady was one of 36 players to earn conditional status on the LPGA Tour after shooting a 5-over 365 (75-70-68-81-71) in the Final Qualifying Tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla. The top 17 players received exempt status for the 2008 season, while the following 36 earned conditional status.
“It’s a little bit surreal to digest because one of the things I tried to avoid all week was thinking about the end result,” Brady said. “I had worked so hard on staying in the moment that it was hard to get out of it immediately after my last round. However, the excitement definitely started flooding in once I got in my car to drive back to the condo I stayed at for the week.”
In order to even advance to the final tournament, Brady had to finish in the top 30 at sectionals, which she did by tying for 26th. Held at the Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla., Brady carded a score of 72-72-72-78–294 (+6).
A native of Charlotte, N.C., Brady was a three-time All-SEC selection and four-year letterwinner for the Commodores. Brady was also a third team All-America selection by Golfweek in 2006, joining her mother, Peggy Harmon Brady as the first mother-daughter All-Americans in Vanderbilt history.
Brady believes her experience as a student-athlete at Vanderbilt helped prepare her for the challenge of trying to make it to the professional ranks.
“Well I always said if I could graduate from Vandy, I would feel like I could do anything,” Brady said. “The work ethic, time management, organization skills and marketing skills all prepared me for professional golf. The confidence of having two Vanderbilt degrees is what helped me in Q-school.
“Nothing can prepare you for the pressure and stress of Q-school…. there’s just nothing like it in this world that I have experienced yet. But having the belief in myself and knowing that I have other options in life to fall back on removed a tiny bit of pressure. Four years of cramming for exams or getting back from tournaments late and having projects and assignments due the next day teaches you to have stamina with those pressure situations. I felt like I had the stamina for the pressure of five rounds of Q-school.”
Now that she made it through Q-School, Brady is looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.
“I think some of the new challenges for me will be playing in front of big galleries and not being too distracted when Annika (Sorenstam) or Juli Inskter – two players I have always looked up to – are walking down the fairway with me,” Brady said. “Ultimately they are my competitors and I’m out there to beat them … not ask for their autographs anymore.
“I think competing against the best golfers in the world will only help the confidence of my game because, as with many athletes, the level of my game rises with the level of my competition. I also expect it’s going to be a blast.”
